Read today's 10 Big Ten headlines

By Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, 3 years ago

Read today's 10 Big Ten headlines

By Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, 3 years ago

Lots of excitement in the Dairy State, as Wisconsin gears up for its first trip to the Final Four since 2000. And that also has stirred memories of the coach who led the Badgers there: Dick Bennett. Yes, his style wasn’t always exciting. But the guy could coach. I miss him.

“The Wisconsin game showed us you have to play hard throughout, no matter who you’re playing,” point guard DeAndre Mathieu said. “They are a really strong team and are in the Final Four now. They blitzed us early, and it showed us you have to come out with the right mentality and have to defend.”

Nine wins? Really? Seems a tad generous. I’m leaning more toward eight. Check out how I see it for the 2014 Hawkeyes:

Northern Iowa W

Ball State W

Iowa State W

At Pitt L

At Purdue W

Indiana W

At Maryland W

Northwestern L

At Minnesota L

At Illinois W

Wisconsin W

Nebraska L

***

The hype surrounding Ohio State sophomore defensive end Joey Bosa already is building. No doubt, he will be a marked man in the fall. Heck, Urban Meyer thinks Bosa could be one of the best he’s ever coached. Now THAT’S hype.

***

It seems Tim Beckman is a bit hacked by a story in SI that the Illinois coach says misquoted him. The story quotes Beckman as saying “I want this program to get better. That’s the bottom line. And that means five or six wins.”

Five or six wins? That’s it?

“I don’t know how that got quoted that way, but it wasn’t quoted the way that is should be, of course,” said Beckman. “You want to win and go for championships. That’s why you’re in this profession.”

***

Who will be the starting quarterback at Indiana? Tre Roberson? Nate Sudfeld?

As IU’s Kevin Wilson enters his fourth season in Bloomington, he maintains the tradition of not having a definitive No. 1 signal-caller.

“Were going to play both of them as much as we can, to be honest with you,” offensive coordinator Kevin Johns told the Indy Star. “They’re both great players. And they know that. I try to communicate that with them. I think they’re a little bit more comfortable with it.

“I think early on, they were worried, ‘Boy, if I make one mistake, I’m not going to get a chance to go back out there.’ Well, no, you are. But we’re going to give this guy a chance, and then it’s your turn and then it’s your turn.”

If I’m making the call, I go with Roberson. He can pass about as well as Sudfeld and is a better athlete.

Not a shock. It seems most schools lose money on these bowls. The only folks who make money are the bowls. This just makes no sense. That’s why we should scrap 90 percent of these bowls and just let teams schedule a 13th regular-season game. Imagine how much cash Iowa could have made with an eighth home game last year? Exactly.

***

TWEETS THAT MATTER

Minnesota is in its second NIT final in three years. Is that a good thing?

BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men’s basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section.

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